Edmonton’s Tyler Benson a good high NHL draft bet for 2016

With apologies to gifted fellow centre Jack Eichel, Connor McDavid will probably be the first name called at the NHL Entry Draft in Florida in late June — two generational type talents of the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin variety — but what about the summer of 2016, when the draft is in Buffalo?

Could it be winger Tyler Benson? He might not go No. 1, but certainly the Edmonton product is Top 5 material.

Benson, who scored 146 points in 33 games for Southside Athletic Club as a bantam two years ago then landed in Kelowna, B.C., to play for the Pursuit of Excellence Academy, where Justin Schultz and Curtis Lazar once toiled in midget-level hockey, is still a first liner with the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants at 16.

Benson will be in the mix in the 2016 draft with Scottsdale, Ariz.-born right-winger Auston Matthews, defenceman Jacob Chychrun, Lloydminster blueliner Kyle Clague of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Seth Jones’s brother Max, who is playing midget in Detroit right now.

Matthews, playing for the U.S. National Development Team out of Ann Arbor, Mich., may have the inside track at going first overall for now.

Scouts will undoubtedly find warts in Benson’s game just as they did with star NHL defenceman Jay Bouwmeester when he was in the WHL and starring at 16, but Benson is a handful at 196 pounds already. Current nursing what could be a shoulder injury, Benson’s been a point-a-game player.

“He reminds so much of Jamie Benn at the same age,” said Craig Button, the TSN commentator, former NHL GM in Calgary and scouting guru.

“Tyler can make plays off the wing or score off the wing, and guys like him are rare. He thinks the game at such a high pace, and that translates when you can make plays, when everything around you is busy.”

“For the most part, Tyler’s been our best player … you don’t like to say that about a 16-year-old, but he’s been that guy,” said Giants general manager Scott Bonner, who’s seen a lot of kids come down the pike in years working in the WHL. “The two best examples would be Evander Kane and Gilbert Brule on our team. They were freaks here, dominant, key players from the start, while Brendan Gallagher was more traditional. He came in, had 10 goals at 16, then 40 goals. What they all had in common was they had to be gritty and they would outwork everybody, and that’s what Tyler does.”

Bonner concedes they’d have been just as happy if they had picked Sherwood Park centre Sam Steel of the Regina Pats, the puck-mover Clague or Winnipeg forward Nolan Patrick (Brandon) in the 2013 bantam draft. Steel is a terrific offensive talent, and Clague is your prototypical offensive D-man..

“The 1998 age group was like the 95s, all good,” said Bonner. “In the ’95 draft, we saw Lazar (Oil Kings), Sam Reinhart (Kootenay Ice), Nic Petan (Portland Winterhawks) … who’s been the best? Who really cares? Everybody is happy.”

The Giants got the first pick and opted for Benson.

“He kills penalties, he leads us in hits, and we have a guy doing Corsi and his puck-possession numbers are the best with those NHL stats,” said Bonner. “He’s more physically mature than most 16-year-olds.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins starred in Red Deer at 16, (65 in 67 games) but he weighed about 165 pounds. Gallagher was small in Vancouver, so was Brule at 16. Benson and Kane were bigger.

“Tyler has huge legs and a huge trunk,” said Bonner. “His parents watched Curtis Lazar with the Oil Kings, and I think Lazar suggested that the routine he went through at the P.O.E (Pursuit of Excellence) was pretty strong.

“I wasn’t sure it was a good idea leaving Edmonton minor hockey for B.C., but he’s made gains off the ice through personal training. He’s a lot quicker. He’s not a pretty skater, per se, but he’s quick and powerful.”

The downside to being very good at 16 is you’re under the microscope for two years prior to your draft day. Scouts said Bouwmeester didn’t have a mean bone in his body and hadn’t played any playoff games in junior in Medicine Hat; ergo his leadership may have been in question. Benson will feel the scrutiny too.

“The kids in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, where NHL teams are based, they tend to get scouted more because scouts live in those markets and they use our players, say, as a gauge. They’re overseen at times,” said Bonner.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.